Pee-Wee Harris Adrift Part 5

"He's worse than algebra and civil government put together," said Pee-wee.

"Did you say _civil_?" said Roly Poly; "don't mention civil in the same sentence with him; he's the man that put the crab in crab-apple."

"He's got a dandy orchard, though," said Pee-wee.

"Sure, this is a part of it," said Roly Poly.

CHAPTER IX

THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL

"_Good night_," said Pee-wee; "I don't blame it for going away from him. Can he take it back? It's an island now and it's part of Bridgeboro. He can't take it on account of international law; that's what _I_ think. How did it happen?"

"It's a very short story," said his new friend; "it's only about a mile and a half long--from North Bridgeboro down to here. We were camping in Wallace's grove and a little way down the river we saw a kind of a little spot of land with a tree on it. There were lots of apple trees all around there near the sh.o.r.e. We didn't know that orchard belonged to old Trimmer."

"He thinks he owns the whole river," said Pee-wee.

"That little spot of land stuck out sort of like a balcony on account of it being near the bend of the river; the river coming around the bend sort of scooped a place out underneath it; it was all under-mined----"

"I know what happened! I know what happened!" Pee-wee shouted. "I know the place, it was nice and shady underneath it and you could go under it in a canoe; lots of times I did."

"Well, you never will any more," said Roly Poly.

"Go on, tell me! Go on, tell me!" Pee-wee encouraged excitedly.

"There was a pole sticking out of the water right near there,"

Pee-wee's new friend continued, "and we thought it meant there was good fis.h.i.+ng there. So I said I'd go and see if I could catch a couple of eels and sunfish or something. While I was out at the edge of that little k.n.o.b of land or whatever you want to call it, all of a sudden I could feel something giving way under me and the first thing I knew the whole business was in the water.

"Oh, you should have heard those fellows laugh as I went sailing down the river. That was about ten o'clock this morning and the tide was running down strong. This little old island flopped around and went every which way but it stayed right side up anyway and do you think I'd desert the s.h.i.+p? By the time we flopped downstream this far the tide was so low that our little old roots dragged the bottom and we stopped for keeps. So here we are till the tide comes in anyway. I don't know whether we'll float in deep water or not, or whether we'll capsize in deep water or not and I don't know anything about international law, but a life on the ocean wave for _me_."

"I know all about international law," Pee-wee shouted. "Real estate is in a certain place, isn't it? If a man owns real estate it's bounded by something, isn't it? Well, then, if it isn't bounded by those things any more how can it belong to that same man? If a man owns land in a certain place and it stops being in that place, whose is it?"

"Search me," said Roly Poly.

"Besides I've got an inspiration; do you know what those are?" Pee-wee vociferated.

"Have you got it with you?"

"_Sure_ I've got it with me! Don't I always have them with me?"

Roly Poly seemed amused.

"There are two kinds of scouts, aren't there?" Pee-wee asked vociferously. "Regular scouts and sea scouts. Sea scouts are supposed to live on the water and regular scouts are supposed to live under the trees, like. So we can do both and we'll be combination scouts. We'll be the Combination Scouts of America, hey? Will you?"

"I'll be anything as long as it's Sat.u.r.day; I'm not particular," said Roly Poly.

"Because my father knows a man that's a lawyer and he'll stick up for us," Pee-wee continued excitedly. "Because old Trimmer hasn't got any deed that says he owns an island, has he? All right, this is an island in Bridgeboro. You can't deny that, can you? Let's hear you deny that. All right, then, if he comes and tries to get this island, he'll be trespa.s.sing, won't he? And so we'll start the Combination Scouts of America and we'll call ourselves the--the--the----"

"The Sardine Patrol," suggested Roly.

"We'll call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol," said Pee-wee, "because apples are on land and crabs are in the water. Will you?"

"I see a sail on the horizon," said Roly.

"If it's old Trimmer let me handle him," said Pee-wee.

"It's the rest of the patrol," said Roly. "Do you see those two canoes coming around the bend? We'll have a meeting of the general staff and decide what to do."

"Whatever we do, we'll do something, hey?" said Pee-wee.

"More than that," said Roly.

"Anyway, we'll start a patrol or something, hey?"

"Oh, we'll start something, leave it to us," said Roly Poly.

CHAPTER X

THE OTHERS ARRIVE

The arrival of the five North Bridgeboro scouts was the occasion of much merriment and banter. These boys from the small village up the river had formed themselves into a patrol but they were two members short of the required number and they had no scoutmaster.

Whether they took scouting seriously it would be hard to say; if so it must have been a great comfort to them to have wished upon their budding organization such an instructor and propagandist as the diminutive genius whom they were now about to meet. Whatever material they had among them for progress in the scouting field, they gave every indication of possessing that quality of unholy mirth which distinguished the notorious Silver Foxes. Perhaps their silver was not quite so bright, but they gave promise.

"Hey, where are you going with the apple tree?" one of them called from the nearest canoe. "What are you trying to do? Swipe a chunk of property? That's a part of North Bridgeboro you've got there."

"Why didn't you take the whole village?" another called.

"Hey, Roly, where are you going with the real estate?" another called.

"I knew you were too heavy for that neck of land," shouted another.

"Why didn't you take the whole orchard with you?" a third wanted to know.

"_For the love of----_," another e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Look at the sign, will you! The place is discovered already!"

Pee-wee did not wait for formal introductions. "We're going to start the Combination Scouts of Bridgeboro!" he shouted. "We're going to be sea scouts and land scouts all rolled into one! We took possession and it's all right! Old Trimmer can't say that he owned an island, can he?

We're going to have our pictures in _Boys' Life_ and everything and we're going to have all the apples when they're ripe and maybe we're going to call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol! Maybe there's treasure buried here, how do we know? And we're going to get one of those things--a saxophone or whatever you call it--to take our lat.i.tude and longitude with! We're going to be better than the Ravens and the Elks and the Silver Foxes and I know how to make apple-sauce! We're going to be a new kind of a patrol!"

"In the name of goodness, what's that, a phonograph?" one of the approaching canoeists called.

"That's the discoverer," Roly called back. "He took possession of the island in the name of the King of Bridgeboro."